


A Rocky Reunion

by inks0up (krikkit_war_robot)



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, henry being like 4000 percent done with joey's crap is what i live for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 19:18:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krikkit_war_robot/pseuds/inks0up
Summary: Henry finally finds Joey and discovers what it is he wanted to show him. It was absolutely not worth risking his life for.





	A Rocky Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the following prompt (found on Pinterest):
> 
> "...You didn't." He stated, staring out at the scene in front of him.  
> "Oh, I did... I so very much did..."
> 
> Enjoy!

“...you didn’t,” Henry uttered in shock and disbelief. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. He wished the scene in front of him wasn’t real. He hadn’t made it this far only to find that this was what awaited him at the end.

“Oh, I did.”

Joey Drew. Once an old friend, Henry had come to despise him since his return to the studio. Joey had done something terribly, terribly evil. Henry had seen far too much to deny it.

“I so very much did.”

There was a certain smugness to his attitude that only made it all seem unspeakably worse. Here he was, responsible for numerous deaths - no, the fates of his victims-turned-inky-abominations were far worse than death, even - for bringing monsters to life against all natural order, for luring Henry into this hellish nightmare where he’d spent every waking moment fearing for his life, all in this foolish, short-sighted attempt of his to play God.

And still he dared to boast about what he’d done with that awful grin on his face.

“Joey,” Henry began, his voice steady but firm.

Joey cut him off with a laugh.

“Henry, my old friend,” he said, “you always did get worked up over the most trivial things.”

‘Trivial.’ Right. As if fooling around with demonic magic and using his employees as his guinea pigs was a ‘trivial’ matter. Henry was tempted to call him out on both this and the accusation against his character, but he resisted the temptation. He knew Joey all too well.

“Yes, I know,” he replied as calmly as he could manage. He was determined to deny Joey the satisfaction of getting a reaction. “I’m sorry.”

For a moment, Joey seemed not to know what to say.

“Yes, well-” he began, then stopped, clearly caught off-guard and unsure of where to go with that sentence. “You’ve changed a lot...” he muttered disappointedly after another moment. “Do I dare ask what it is you’ve been through since we last met?”

“I think you know that well enough,” Henry answered, still trying hard to suppress his rising anger.

Joey took one look up and down the ink-soaked animator.

“I mean, besides that,” he replied. Henry raised an eyebrow. _“I know, I’m sorry,”_ Joey continued, repeating Henry’s words in a subtly mocking tone. “I hadn’t expected you to be so... well, if I’m being honest, I hadn’t expected you to let that slide at all.”

“I know your games, Joey,” said Henry, “and I’m not like you. If I have to swallow my pride to avoid dealing with your bullshit, I-“

Joey grinned.

“What?” Henry asked, more than a little miffed.

“Got you.”

“Joey, I’m not in the mood for this. Now shut up.”

“I knew you hadn’t changed a bit!” exclaimed Joey with a laugh.

“You haven’t either,” Henry replied, “...unfortunately. Now, tell me there’s a way out of here.”

Joey dropped his cocky attitude and looked pensive for a moment.

“I doubt that,” he finally answered, surprisingly nonchalant about it.

“What?!” Now Henry was furious, and he didn’t care to hide it. “You’re saying we’re stuck here for good, and you- you _knew_ that all along?”

“Of course I did,” Joey replied, “but that’s beside the point, so-”

“I didn’t come here to watch your stupid cartoons,” Henry cut in.

“I said I had something to show you, and-”

“I didn’t risk my life for _this_. I thought it would be something more important, and I _didn’t_ expect the studio to be fucking _cursed_.”

“It’s in color!”

“...fine,” Henry resigned, knowing he really didn’t have much say in the matter at this point. He took a seat in one of the chairs Joey had set up facing the projector screen. Joey turned on the projector and sat in the other chair to watch the show.

There they spent the evening, in the safety of the mini-studio Joey had put together in his office from equipment salvaged from the more unsafe areas of the building, watching the Bendy cartoons Joey had made on his own since the studio’s closure. It made Henry feel oddly nostalgic, despite all the horrors he’d just experienced. It felt almost as if he’d been transported thirty years back in time.

“So, what do you say?” Joey asked after several episodes. “Ready to work together again?”

“This might sound crazy,” Henry replied, not even pausing to think about it first, “but why the hell not?” he said with a smile. Maybe he was making a rash decision. Maybe this place had finally caused him to lose it. Or maybe the reality of his situation had sunk in properly and he realized it would be more worthwhile to stay with Joey and make cartoons than to continue trying in vain to escape. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t quite sure, but he felt in that moment that choosing to stay was the better option.

Joey smiled brightly.

“Great!” he exclaimed. “Now, here’s what I’ve been thinking...” He went on to explain some of the ideas he had for future episodes, and Henry joined him right away in brainstorming. As the pair enthusiastically discussed their ideas, the masked figure who’d been watching unnoticed from the doorway slinked back toward the music department, feeling happy for once at the prospect of working with his old friend again.


End file.
